Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 8

इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहङ्कार एव च । जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदुःखदोषानुदर्शनम्

indriyārtheṣu vairāgyamanahaṅkāra eva ca | janmamṛtyujarāvyādhiduḥkhadoṣānudarśanam

Translation

Absence of attachment for objects of the senses, and also absence of egoism; perception of evil in birth, death and old age, in sickness and pain;

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

indriyārtheṣu

of the senses, in the objects

vairāgyam

dispassion

anahaṅkāraḥ

non-egoism

eva

even

ca

and

janmamṛtyujarāvyādhiduḥkhadoṣānudarśanam

birth, and, death, and, old age, and sicknesses, and, of them, of the pain, of the evil, the seeing

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Absence of attachment: for sense-objects such as sound, for pleasures seen or unseen. Perception of evil: thinking of what evil there is severally in birth, etc. The evil of birth lies in having to dwell in the womb and to issue out through the uterus; similarly in death. The evil of old age consists in the decay of intelligence, power and strength, and in being treated with contempt. So also the evil caused by sickness, and the evil caused by pain — whether ādhyātmika (arising in one's own person), ādhibhautika (produced by external agents), or ādhidaivika (produced by supernatural beings). From this perception of evil there arises indifference to the pleasures of the body and of the senses; the senses turn towards the Innermost Self.